mybrokerdiana's Blog: Roseburg Area Info and Events

     We are now looking back on a wonderful but hot summer. If you have been using that time to look for your new home and are a first time buyer, I want to put some urgency into that search for you. Move quickly and move now on your decision to buy. Why?

   I don’t know what it has been like in other parts of the country but in Douglas County, OR. closing times have gotten a little hinky.  Thirty days used to be a normal time for escrow to close. Now it seems that the “new normal” is about sixty days. Loan processing has really become painstaking, even for people with high credit scores. I have heard jokes in the past that if you were a “warm body that could still breathe on a mirror” that’s all you needed to qualify for a loan. To qualify for a loan in…

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            In the past twenty-four hours, I have met three potential sellers who all told me the same thing. They are in love with their house and don’t want to sell it yet. One person’s spouse was transferring to a new job here in Roseburg, Oregon.  They NEEDED to move…NOW!  This couple still hadn’t talked to a Realtor in their county about listing their house! Yet here they were looking for their new home with desperation in their voices; they needed to find something quick. This sounds a little loopy, but I do understand. It’s your home after all, that loving place where kids and pets gleefully run amok.  That place where you put in lots of sweat equity to make it reflect who you are and what your style is. Oh, that bastion of memories!  OK, now snap…

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            Sometimes people think that country living is a little boring, sort of the same thing in every state. You know, the main street, lots of farms, the feed store, cows and barns. In Douglas County, Oregon we do have all of that, but we have so much more. Add to that list, waterfalls, the best fly fishing in the world, mountains, caves, the ocean, water and snow skiing, horse ranches, rodeos, concerts in the parks and last but not least, Bigfoot sightings. The list goes on even further. Here is some of the free fun stuff that you can take visitors to, especially in the summer:

            1. The Fish Ladder at Winchester: Don’t laugh, it’s free and when the huge 30 inch plus salmon are in there people get excited. Just this week, I was driving a… Read Full Post

            George Washington is starting to look as gaunt as Don Knotts. Some of you younger folk may not even know who that was. (Knotts played Deputy Barney Fife on the “Andy Griffith Show.”) Yes, the one dollar bill is pretty pathetic and puny these days. It looks like George will finally get some help from Dr. Ben Bernanke---perhaps the sooner the better.  Maybe that sounds rather oxymoronic for a realtor to say, but look at our economy, four dollars for a dozen eggs, two dollars a pound for apples, etc. Not to mention gas prices…..

            For the past two months I was amazed at the elastic interest rates and how they sprang back and forth between the five percent and low six percent range on a daily basis. The wise buyer needed to make an… Read Full Post

 

Rest in peace, o’ traditional twenty per cent down payment. Your days of relevance are over in this new millennium. Most people today would think you were loopy and run for the door if you said they needed 20% down to finance a home.  There are so many buyer’s assistance programs out there that the need to have a sizable down payment to impress a financier are over. As one small example, FHA/VA loans have been the better loan of choice these past few months because their rates have been running lower than Conventional rates.  FHA/VA loans can still offer loans with minimum downs of 3% or 100% financing!             Some of that will change this summer when FHA will start adjusting their mortgage insurance premiums depending on credit score and loan to… Read Full Post

      Just one more year. That’s what I said last year about buying a new car. My car is up there in age, but it still looks great inside and out and runs well. Right now with the gas prices escalating, I think everybody is starting to FINALLY pay attention to the need to transform cars. When I research cars however, it seems there really isn’t the perfect car out there for me. 

I need: ·        Four wheel drive or AWD, I am a rural broker in Douglas County, Oregon and climb up and down lots of interesting steep hills and gravel roads with clients. It comes in handy for snow days too. ·        I need a people mover that is comfortable for all sizes. ·        Something that looks professional with lots of room for people and the sales stuff I have to… Read Full Post

 

 

              While on vacation years ago in another country, a local resident’s car drove by where we were sitting on the balcony. It was hand painted-- a bright lime green no less. One of my party very drolly made this comment, “Painted with a broom.”   I never forgot that moment. It was too funny, even though I felt sympathy for the driver.           Now, years later as a Realtor, I have seen the same phenomenon occur with houses. Last year, I had to visit a medical specialist’s office a few times. This medical group acquired a really cool craftsman style home and made offices out of it. You could tell they didn’t use an interior decorator. But the furniture and decorations were simple, warm and cozy for patients. However, the paint job was… Read Full Post

 

              Once a buyer or seller starts working with a Real Estate Agent as a client, they soon come to realize that agents are very handy for many things beyond selling real estate.              I found out that to really help clients, especially those from out of town, I had to have at my instant disposal, answers to just about everything a homeowner needed to know. No matter how minuscule, or far flung, I either had to know the information or how to find it for them. In other words, I needed to be a telephone directory (or web directory) on two feet. As a Roseburg, Oregon Broker, I can’t imagine that this is any different for any Realtor across the country.             What kinds of things do people need to know about?   Well, some of the… Read Full Post